Let's go junk hunting for an Illinois Non-survivor Kustom

Some of you city folk never get a chance to go out to do much junk hunting so let's go on a virtual hunt. I guess you could call this a tech post about how to keep your damn eyes open ALL THE TIME.

The back story. Last spring I had to go into work on a Sunday morning to run a big sprayer since we were a bit behind with work. Of course most of central Illinois is nice and flat and has decent sized big fields. Needless to say I was a little miffed when I was told that I had to go spray this field that we at work have nicknamed "Deliverance". This place is miles from anywhere out where the hoot owls fuck the chickens. So I am driving this big sprayer down a dirt path knocking branches off of trees and trying not to bust nozzles off of the booms. Finally I get back to the field and unfold the booms and start making a hot lap around the place. As I am zooming by the brush I see a rusty hulk with a square light over the back window. I figured that it is a 58 Chevy or something to that effect.....

Here is a view of the place where I was at....there is wheat there this year, last year I was spraying the beans.....not your typical Illinois farm field......

 

So I get done spraying this field and decide to go and check out this "Chevy" it is back in the brambles in thistles........

 

As I walk up on it I see the rond roof and figure out quick that it is not a chevy, when I finally get up to the damn thing I am pretty damn amazed to find a chopped and sectioned ford....in Central Illinois! What is really amazing is that this thing is about 3 miles from the heart of Amish country.

So does anyone have any history on this old pile? How about some other pics of cool old customs that have been long forgotten? It amazes me how someone's pride and joy can end up like this......

 

Didjya drag it out of there?

 

He's going to restore it someday.

 

Cool!! You should get it and bring it back to life.You can do it.

 

If I hooked onto it and drug it out of there it would probably pull in half.

I could probably shake it over an envelope and mail it to you if you would like. Ha Ha Ha

I know that it would be easier to "Clone" it than fix it.

 

It amazes me how someone's pride and joy can end up like this......[/quote]



The original guy that kustomized it in 1957 probably sold it in the early 60s to someone who liked it then they drove it for a while....then hot rods and kustoms died out but the car was still in perfect shape, then they sold it to someone for $100 in 1972 to someone who wanted to 70's it then they tore it apart, took the full race caddy mill out with 6 dueces or whatever it had in it, junked that engine, never finished it and then they put it in the field......happens everytime

 

WOW, the Hoot Owls and the chicken thing cracked me up. We got a place up here in Northen Il called German Valley. Thats where the farmer gets on a stump and humps a horse. I think it even made the news in the Windy City.

Well anyway sometimes the cool stuff is out there somewhere. Thanks for the pics.

 

I'm just surprised that this is the fourth chopped and sectioned shoebox I've seen this week.

 

Great find to bad it's a wash with all the rust or are you just foolin' with us. Rags

 

hows this for a non-surviver sit here in a junk yard near Mattawan.

 

What's left of that 427 door should be hanging on someone's shop wall.

JH

 

One of u central Illinois boys probally drove Down here to SOUTHERN ILLINOIS and stole it, Guttd her and there she sits

 

where I grew up and out in South Eastern South Dakota

There was a 49 ford
with a 53 stude front end
with 55 Chevy tail lights ...it was swimming pool green and white

They were asked to sell it many times over the years
.
Story was some famous person made it ?
kid got killed in some war

Suppose 1st time I seen it (or remember) was 63 or 64

Last time I seen it was mid 80's..

Not sure if its still there or not

but, the ol folk surely are gone by now..would be in there late
90's for sure

 

'60 Dodge 4dr sedan... niiiice.

 

First of all, I got goosebumps seeing the sectioned chopped ford... Reminded me of finding old late '30s roundy round cars sitting out in the woods and playing in them as a kid.

Second of all, I want the 427 door for MY shop wall!

 

man that just ruined my day

 

Here's the story on that car in the field:

A man in Southern Illinois walked into a Ford dealership in late 1949, after being smitten with the looks of the "new" Ford design. Needing a new car to replace his trusty but deteriorating Hudson Terraplane, he put a down payment on a shiny new black 1950 Ford Tudor.

A couple weeks later, he gets a call from his salesman at the dealership. "Your new car is in, just as you ordered, it's being prepped for final delivery right now...when would you like to come pick it up?"

He puts on his best hat from the local "haberdashery", dresses in his best suit, and walks back into the Ford dealer.

The car was delivered to it's happy new owner.

Mr. Smith drove his new pride and joy back and forth to his Insurance Salesman job every day for several years. Several co-workers commented from time to time on what a "sleek, new style" his car had. He regularly maintained it at the dealer, and the little flathead gave good service with regular oil changes. A little frustrating at times to get going in sub-zero Illinois winters, but he figured out a technique. Several sets of points and spark plugs down the road, Mr. Smith decided to sell the car while still in good condition to try to get top value for it.

Around 1957 or so, the potential new owner; a father of three who was looking for a dependable car to get back and forth to work at his job with the phone company was eyeing the local classified paper. He spotted the ad for a "Low mile 1950 Ford 2 door" and promptly called up the seller. After a few days the title was transferred, and the Ford was his. He continued to drive the car for the next 10 years, racking up over 100,000 total miles on the odometer, which quit working shortly thereafter. Repairs were done along the way, the heads were redone, the trans was serviced, suspension parts were replaced...but when the first signs of serious rust started to show themselves, Mr. Clark decided to cut his losses and try to get fair market value for the car while it was still driveable.

It's now 1967. Musclecars and Kustoms are becoming the new rage.

Mr. Anthony, an 18 year old kid who worked as a "soda jerk" at the local ice cream parlor, he himself obsessed with Kustoms after pining over mags like "Hop Up" and "Rod & Custom"- comes across the ad in the local paper for this 1950 Ford that needed some work. Still driveable, it needs rockers, fender repairs, and a re-chroming. The exhaust also has a leak. For $75.00 the car is his and the title changes hands again. Mr Anthony is a young kid with few dollars to spare, but just has to have the car re-worked at the local Kustom shop. He sends it off to have the grill area and headlights reworked, the top chopped, and some trim deleted. As the car is worked on, he makes payments. Over time, he loses his ass in the deal and winds up with a half-finished car because he can't afford the full-on show treatment. He reluctantly picks up the car in primer, and decides to drive it as his daily while he continues to save up money for the final paint and body work.

In 1968 he is drafted to Viet Nam.

In 1970 he is killed in action.

The car sat for 2 years un-driven, and is now undriveable, due to various electrical issues... and the family wants it out of their sight because it reminds them of him. They push it off into a field and forget about it. It is left to rust, gets baked in the sun, frozen in the winter, and rapidly degrades...everyone forgets about it, and no one who wants it can find it.

Then in 2007 one of us old car guys stumbles upon it 30 years later, as it was in the process of retuning to the earth. He posts it on the "internet", something unheard of before 1990 or so.

Too late to save, but too cool not to take pictures of.

That's my fictitious rendition of what happened to this car; it would be neat to find out the REAL story. May it rot in peace.

OR, pull out what's left, find a doner, and re-create it!

 

I have to wonder how many of the famous old customs that have been lost over the years are still out there like this. Imagine finding LeRoy Goulart or Junior Conway's shoebox sitting abandoned out on a farm in the middle of no where like that!?

 

bein from north central ill. i say git her out of there plowboy! parts is parts, metal is metal. i`m always lookin

 

nice story mercman!great imagination

 

Aaron must be spoiled or something...........he thinks everything is too rough to save! Then again, with talent like his, why bother saving the rough stuff when you can blow everyone's mind with a creation built from the solid parts of cars that are "just to rough to bother with. I'm tellin' ya man".

Great find Plowboy! Maybe someone has the real history on it?

Tim D.

 

Scott that was Adeline, A suburb of German Valley!!!

 

reminds be of pics on Hines Bat that was behind a shop or something and was in terrible shape and had been altered in a bad way

 

Mr. Anthony, an 18 year old kid who worked as a "soda jerk" at the local ice cream parlor, he himself obsessed with Kustoms after pining over mags like "Hop Up" and "Rod & Custom"- comes across the ad in the local paper for this 1950 Ford that needed some work. Still driveable, it needs rockers, fender repairs, and a re-chroming. The exhaust also has a leak. For $350.00 the car is his and the title changes hands again. Mr Anthony is a young kid with few dollars to spare, but just has to have the car re-worked at the local Kustom shop. He sends it off to have the grill area and headlights reworked, the top chopped, and some trim deleted. As the car is worked on, he makes payments. Over time, he loses his ass in the deal and winds up with a half-finished car because he can't afford the full-on show treatment. He reluctantly picks up the car in primer, and decides to drive it as his daily while he continues to save up money for the final paint and body work.


Good story, but back then when Mr Anthony bought the car it would have sold for $50-$75 at the most

 

your so spoiled!!! here in new england thats considered near new condition!

 

clone it don't waste it, those kind of cars are priceless! Rags

 

If you look, that is just the body laying in the Mud, the Chassis is long gone.....the Chop Job looks pretty good around the back window, the middle not so much. the section job is kind of hokey. It would be easier to get a nicer car and do it right.....

Anyone else have any pics from junkyards or anything of Kustoms that were abandoned?

 

Hey plow boy... maybe you should find out who had that car's twin at the stray kat 500... they had one almost Identical on a trailer with a sign and a phone number asking about it's history?